consumerism

Last week, Kathleen Fuld, wife of Lehman Brothers C.E.O. Dick Fuld, stopped by the Hermès boutique on Manhattan's Madison Avenue to buy some holiday gifts. As she paid for her purchases, she vetoed the store's signature orange bag and asked for a plain white one instead.

It's become a common request, an Hermès employee told The Daily Beast. Sales associates at this temple of good taste have gotten used to passing out plain white shopping bags to clients eager to hide their $10,000 Birkin habits in the current economic environment.

At Hermès and a handful of other exclusive retailers, "secret shopping" has becoming the winter season's newest trend. Anyone who can still afford, say, the three cashmere throws at $2,225 each that Mrs. Fuld bought when she stopped by the store that day isn't likely to advertise it. Instead, the city's most extravagant shoppers are ferrying their purchases home in unmarked bags; delegating delivery to assistants; or manipulating credit card bills to disguise their spending from outsiders--and their spouses.

A worker was killed in the crush Friday after a throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains burst through the doors at a suburban Wal-Mart, authorities said.

At least four other people were injured, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island was closed.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store.

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," co-worker Jimmy Overby, 43, told the Daily News. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too. ... I literally had to fight people off my back."

Nassau County police said the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m. The man's name was not released and the cause of death was not immediately known.

Way to go, Long Island!

Shop 'Till They Drop - We all realise the importance of wages, whether we have a 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday job, a part-time job or know someone that works to provide for us. Not only does the money that people gain help to provide a roof over their heads, electricity, heating and food, but for many, wages also enables one to have entertainment and to splash out on the latest 'I want this' consumer goods. Yet, imagine a world where none of this was possible. Imagine a world where 80 hours of work per week is the norm and the cost of living widely surpasses the wages that you receive per month. This isn't the storyline of some fictious novel, it is real life for many that work to provide the clothes that you and I wear in Western society. My blog, entitled "Shop 'Till They Drop," is a university project and not only explores the relams of sweatshops around the globe, but also exploitation in many spheres that you wouldn't imagine, such as the innocent-looking cut-fllowers that we all purchase from supermarkets. The aim of my blog is to not only highlight the events that are currently occuring around the globe, but also how we can all help to reduce the amount of exploitation that is happening and last, but not least, learn more about the entire happenings myself!

After weeks of painstaking research and late-night expeditions that had turned up next to nothing, I was finally on the verge of a breakthrough. I found myself standing, nearly motionless, in the dark, warm environment that I'd identified as the native habitat of the creature I'd been trying so hard to track down: Homo sapiens douchebagus, a hard-partying bipedal primate indigenous to Dallas.

Many people know this creature better by its common name: the $30,000 millionaire. The name is derived from their distinctive behavioral pattern of spending more money than they make in an attempt to appear wealthy and desirable. A clever creature, adept at camouflage, Homo sapiens douchebagus is a peculiar species, and evidence of its existence is largely anecdotal. I hoped to capture one in the wild.

Allie's family traditionally goes to the Thanksgiving Day Parade so this year, I was invited to go too. I'd never been, but I've marched in my geeky band things in dozens. It was very crowded and sort of underwhelming for what it was made out to be. Then again, I think my expectations were based on years of drum and bugle corps. I was hoping to take a few decent photos, but I only took five, of which three were on the car ride in, goofing around. This Snoopy shot was as good as it got. After the parade was over, we did the family thing until ten at night.

Friday was relaxing and then more family time with Allie's family. I also did some shopping, taking advantage of the online black friday deals. I also got a replacement lens for myself for the 200mm f/2.8 that I sold. I bought a cheaper one, it's the same one, I think, that Allie has. There's a plethora of 70-300mm, 75-300mm lenses made by Canon. In any event, I got a good price on everything and no payments, no interest for a year.

Saturday I got to clean my shower. I think I've bleached it two full shades whiter than when it was first made. Sadly, no pictures. Saturday and Sunday were pretty downhill. It's a shame that this is the only four day weekend we get. From here on out, it's a day off for Christmas, a day for New Year's and then Memorial Day in May.

Sunday, Allie and I made really awesome steak/tofu-steak fajitas. Three noms.

But I should be thankful. No really. I don't have cancer, I've got a roof over my head, I've got food to eat, I've got way too much crap, I've got a job, I'm going to school, I've got a hot gf, etc. Do I really need a federal holiday to be thankful? No. But I'll take the two days off from work. Do I really need to gorge myself to be thankful for the food? No. A better idea would be to give some of it away to those less fortunate. But what do I know?

For a number of years, I've told people who have been thinking of getting me something for Christmas or whatever holiday excuse they have for gift giving that I'd simply prefer they not get me anything at all. The reaction to often ranges from confusion (i.e., how can you not want gifts?) to exasperation that my insincere "no, no, you don't have to get me anything…" ways just means they will have to be extra crafty in getting me a gift, since I’m not helping them by hinting at what I want. This is when people ask my wife what I want, and she tells them that I told her years ago to stop getting me Christmas gifts. At which point I suspect their heads explode.

Actually, I started doing something similar this year. Mainly because of his first reason, "When I really want something, I buy it." I really do buy myself the things that I want. Also, "it’s money more profitably spent on people who want something in particular, or (if you’re in this frame of mind) to a charity, or just kept in their own pocket." Going along with that charity thing, I set my mom this email:

From: brian@brianpuccio.net
Subject: Christmas
Date: November 17, 2007 9:43:05 PM EST
To: ctpuccio@optonline.net

So I was thinking that since this year my charitable donations have sucked, I'm not asking for anything. If anyone asks what to get me, they can just make a donation to any of the below. Also, another terapass would be nifty.

Thanks!

EFF
Habitat For Humanity
Medecins Sans Frontiers
Free Software Foundation
Heifer International
The Trust For Public Land
International Red Cross
International Medical Corps

I had this list put together and then I read this:

http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/702-darryl-c-didier

So I'd like to add the American Brain Tumor Association to the list.

Thanks!

What are your "good," "ethical," or "moral" criteria for spending your money? Organic? Fair Trade? Made in America? No Animals Harmed in the Making Of This ____? For the dollars you spend on goods and services, what values do you consider other than the value to yourself? Explain why.

Judging by all the responses, it seems there are lots of people who have their reasons to buy or not buy certain products. Though I guess for every person who responded, there's another twenty who don't give a fuck.

I have created this spreadsheet the past couple of years to help with my Black Friday shopping, I have found it very useful and I hope you will as well. Essentially, it is a spreadsheet that lists all the major Black Friday store ads in a format that can be sorted by store, product, price, etc. Use the drop down arrows at the top of the columns to sort and/or filter the data. The spreadsheet can be downloaded from here. Enjoy.

Those Fat Wallet guys are awesome!

So I just paid off my Amazon Visa the other day (which usually never has a balance but for the past two billing cycles, for the first time ever, I've been carrying a bit of a balance on my credit card) and a trip to Ikea on Monday with Allie ruined it. Curse you, as is department! But this almost new Nominell chair is quite nice.

I finally got myself a desk chair (I've been using a kitchen chair from the table whenever I wanted to sit at my desk for the past six months) that I actually like. I've been looking for months for a chair that makes me happy but doesn't cost $100 but haven't been able to find anything. The tag said the only thing wrong was that it didn't have any packaging. Hooray. Allie also pointed out that they had a pair of champagne flutes for a dollar.

The whole time I was growing up no one ever said anything about oil. No one ever said anything about foreign manufacturing. No one ever said anything about non-linear population growth. No one ever said anything about Topsoil. No one ever said anything about illegal aliens. No one ever said anything about preparation for anything that might come our way. No, the sad truth is that the boomers grew up in unprecedented wealth and security and blissfully burned more oil, energy, topsoil and whatever else you can regretfully burn than any generation since the beginning of known history. These are the assholes who told us to “get good grades” and everything will be awesome.

,,,

End the war, you save your children.Prolong this war, you might get your social security checks with all the nuclear fallout around and illegals stealing your mail to.